A stunningly lavish book celebrating the life and times of an extraordinary person, Ira: The life and times of a princess is one of several TwoSheds book design projects undertaken on behalf of Harper Collins Publishing.
The brief was to create a look befitting a princess, heiress, photographer and fashion designer’s muse who’d lived her life in the spotlight.
From its gold foil blocked cover, featuring a stunning black and white portrait by Irving Penn, to its typographic detail printed in a warm bronze metallic ink, every facet of the book’s design had to mirror the opulence and style of European royalty. The result was a wonderfully tactile tour de force.
Of course, it helps when the subject is as beautiful as Princess Ira and when her beauty is captured so perfectly by master photographers Irving Penn, Cecil Beaton and Helmut Newton. However, Harper Collins also deserves credit for giving the designer the budget and creative licence to produce a book design that readers would truly cherish.
